Infospheres distributed object system

• US 6,898,791 B1
• Filed: 04/21/1999
• Issued: 05/24/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: California Institute of Technology
• Original Assignee: California Institute of Technology
• Inventors: Zimmerman, Daniel, Rifkin, Adam, Weisman, Luke, Chandy, K. Mani, Kiniry, Joseph, Tanaka, Wesley
• Primary Examiner(s): An, Meng-Al T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Truong, LeChi
• Application Number:
  US09/295,957
• Time in Patent Office: 2,225 Days
• Field of Search: 719/314, 703/313
• US Class Current: 719/314
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

A distributed system framework and a distributed system architecture that includes three features: it can accommodate a large number of addressable entities, it is possible to connect any arbitrary group of entities together into a virtual network, and the infrastructure supports large numbers of concurrent virtual networks. In one aspect, the invention includes a distributed system framework for a networked environment, including a plurality of process objects, each process object including: a program method for creating at least one inbox for storing messages received from another process object; a program method for creating at least one outbox for storing messages to be transmitted to another process object; a freeze method that saves the state of the process object to persistent storage, thereby changing the process object to a frozen process object; a thaw method that restores the frozen process object from the persistent storage, thereby changing the frozen process object to a ready process object; a program method for interconnecting each created outbox of the process object to a created inbox of at least one other process object, thereby establishing a personal network between the process object and such other process objects within a communication session to perform at least one task by passing messages between the interconnected outboxes and in-boxes.

Claims

1. A distributed system framework for a networked environment, including a plurality of process objects, each of said process objects including:

(a) a program method for creating at least one inbox for storing messages received from another process object;

(b) a program method for creating at least one outbox for storing messages to be transmitted to another process object;

(c) a freeze method that saves a state of the process object to persistent storage, thereby changing the process object to a frozen process object which does not use operating system resources;

(d) a thaw method that restores the frozen process object from the persistent storage, thereby changing the frozen process object to a ready process object;

(e) a program method for interconnecting each created outbox of the process object to a created inbox of at least one other process object, thereby establishing a personal network between the process object and such other process objects within a communication session to perform at least one task by passing messages between the interconnected outboxes and inboxes;

wherein each message includes a snapshot variable that indicates whether a process object has recorded its state; and

wherein the snapshot variable is a date field, and each process object includes a snapshot method that eaves the state of the process object if a date field value within a received message is later than current date value for the process object, updates the current date value for the process object to the date field value of the received message, and increments a clock for the process object to a value exceeding the date field value of the received message.

2. The distributed system framework of claim 1, wherein each message includes a snapshot variable that indicates whether a process object has recorded its state.

3. The distributed system framework of claim 1, wherein the summoning response method causes the thaw method of the process object to be invoked if the process object is frozen when summoned by another process.

4. The distributed system framework, of claim 1, each process object further including a summoning response method, for instantiating the process object if the process object is summoned by another process object.

5. The distributed system framework of claim 1, each process object further including at least one mail daemon object, for controlling the order of messages in each inbox.